Check your contract

Every energy retailer has a customer contract that outlines your rights and their responsibilities with electricity or gas services, including billing. You may not be able to negotiate the standard terms of your contract with the company, but it is good to read the contract before you sign up. You have rights if they include unfair contract terms.

Tip: Some contracts allow power companies to automatically renew fixed-term deals, unless you opt out. Once you have renewed automatically this makes it hard to switch providers without incurring early termination fees.

Do you want a smart meter?

A smart meter is an electronic meter that accurately and continuously records your electricity consumption data. It sends the information back to your retailer in real time, so you don’t need to have your meter read. Smart meters are all being installed free of charge across New Zealand.

As the information smart meters collect is personal data, retailers need to comply with the information privacy principles in the Privacy Act(external link) when collecting and handling that data.

Your rights

You have a specific guarantee of acceptable quality for the supply of electricity and piped gas, supplied by a retailer under the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA).

The guarantee means:

the supply should be as safe and reliable as a reasonable consumer would expect it to be

the quality of gas or electricity supplied must be such that it can be consistently used for things that a reasonable consumer would expect to use gas or electricity for.

If this guarantee of acceptable quality is breached, you can get your energy retailer to fix the problem.

If you find your gas or electricity supply has suddenly stopped, check with your supplier or the network operator. There may be a fault in your area because of a power cut or maintenance work. Your supplier or the network operator will explain the details to you.

If you lose service, you’re covered by the guarantee of acceptable quality for electricity and gas supplied by retailers under the Consumer Guarantees Act. If this guarantee is not met, you may be entitled to a legal remedy for a breach of this guarantee.

Next steps

If you’re unable to resolve your issue directly with the electricity or gas supplier, our Resolve It tool has information to help you take the next steps. These may include going to the Disputes Tribunal or District Court.

Common situations

Smart meter installation

An electricity retailer installed a smart meter at a customer’s home and refused to remove it after the customer complained. The customer, ‘Mr M’, complained to the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner. The Commissioner investigated the complaint and recommended the retailer remove the advanced meter and install an analogue meter. She also recommended the company pay Mr M a customer service payment of $1,000. She found that the electricity retailer installed the meter in breach of its terms and conditions, because it did not give the customer adequate notice before installing the meter. This installation without notice also denied the customer the opportunity to change retailer.

Incorrect billing

A gas retailer sent bills addressed to ‘the new occupant’. The bills had charges for arrears and daily lines charges. The new tenant said there were no gas appliances at the property and the gas meter at the property had a sticker on it saying it was disconnected. The tenant provided the retailer with her landlord's contact details through the EGCC and the meter was removed.

Disconnection

Ms K complained about her network company disconnecting, without notice, the electricity supply to the rented property she lived in. The network company said it disconnected the supply because the property owner had not paid the bills for network charges. Ms K disputed the network company’s right to disconnect the electricity supply for a debt that was not hers. Ms K and the network company were unable to settle the complaint between them and asked the Commissioner to recommend a settlement. The Commissioner upheld the complaint and recommended the network company pay Ms K $300 compensation for disconnecting the electricity supply without notice, causing Ms K stress and inconvenience.

Power outage

Mrs H’s property was without power for over 13 hours. When the power supply returned, she noticed her freezer was not working. An electrician said it was likely a surge had damaged the fan, even though Mrs H had a surge protector on the freezer. Mrs H asked her network company to pay the costs of repair.The network company did not think there was anything to suggest the power outage had caused the damage. It did not agree to pay to have the freezer repaired. During the investigation by the EGCC Commissioner’s office, the network company agreed to pay for the repair to the freezer. Mrs H accepted and the complaint was settled.

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